Steam’s Item Store has officially launched, a new marketplace that widens options for gamers.
Via launch game Rust, Steam users are linked to stores for community items from third parties, whether they are devs, or modders. It does not seem like the Item Store will bring back the issues of the paid mods launch a few months ago, since the items sold are cosmetic for now.
More interestingly, the Item Store openly overlaps with Steam’s Community Market, where users are already selling similar items. Rust’s CEO, Garry Newman, explained why he thought that this wasn’t just OK, but a good idea:
Part of the reason for having the market prices next to the listings is to make it clear to people if the price is lower somewhere else. Items will come and go from the item store, but they'll be available on the market as long as people are selling them.
While Rust is the only game that currently uses the Item Store, Garry also points out Valve has not shut out this functionality from other devs. In fact, it’s been in the backend for some time now. Rust happens to be the first game that took advantage.
Are you aRust player? Will you be checking out the Item Store? How do you think this will affect your playing of the game? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
